Scottish Clan DNA Testing

Scottish Clan DNA Testing

There is an emerging interest in looking at thepossibility of developing a database of the DNA markers for the Scottish Clans and Septs.

The Scottish clans are very unique in that theClans have been identified and family relationshipstracked for hundreds of years. Some Clan familyhave documented histories stretching back tobefore 1000 AD ( and some back to 500AD) .

So this leads to some interesting possibilitiesof identifying current clan family members anddetermining if the Scottish ancestry line canbe identified. Some have cautioned: be careful because you may find out that you are not whoyou think you are :-). Non-paternity eventswere as frequent then as they are now.

It turns out that A couple of factors make thisa very interesting study for the Clans to beinvolved in.

A: The mtDNA passes down from mother to daughter only. So the matriarch of the family becomes clearly identified and traceable. Scottish history is one of the few in the world where female lineage was often documented. Note that non paternity events don't occur in this DNA since obviously the mother knows her daughter is her offspring. B: The Y DNA passes from father to son. Then we can again provide a clear line of potential coordination between the written documentation and the DNA markers.

There are some other fine points of the DNA identificationand you can find out a lot more in the archives of themailing list.

Anybody that is really interested in participatingshould please reply to me at the email address belowor reply to this message post. Then just list only your interest, surname , contact infoand potential Clan association. I don't want to clog up the archives with a lot of "me too" emails and board posts. :-) Any comments or questions areappropriate to post.

Someone will then contact you for further details and how to proceed. Please note there will probably be cost of some amount for the DNA test. I don't know what that amount is for the test but it probably about$250. My initial survey indicates that we will wantthe 23 marker DNA test to get some definitive answers.I expect to get more details next week.

Please feel free to pass this message along to othermailing lists and boards that may have a high per centageof Scottish Clan or Sept descendants.

Should be an interesting database over the months and years :-) Was that my Chief ???